COMPANY
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Cardiovascular Information Alliance with Seattle Systems
San Francisco, CA - July 8, 1999 - Seattle
Systems, Inc. and Velos Medical Informatics, Inc., the two leading
suppliers of clinical information systems to the cardiovascular
market, have teamed up to provide a comprehensive suite of
information products and services to a combined installation base of
more than 800 cardiovascular centers in the US and
Canada.
The companies plan to integrate current software
offerings and to create new products and services that take
advantage of emerging Internet technology. The core systems offered
by the alliance will be scaled to serve a wide range of customer
needs and budgets - from smaller, lower cost systems that support
national data registries to large multi-hospital networks offering a
host of diagnostic and HIS interface capabilities. New products will
provide alliance users with web-enabled access to cardiovascular
clinical data in physician offices, patient homes and remote
emergency rooms.
In the near-term, the companies will provide
the following product offerings:
Velos Essentials for patient
management and registry participation, scaled to customer needs and
requirements.
The industry leading Apollo database,
configured with 32 subspecialty modules and interfaces to major
hemodynamic, electrophysiology, ECG management, echo, and digital
angiography systems.
Velos Scheduling, a department-wide
cath, echo and surgery, patient and resource scheduling
system.
The Apollo cath lab inventory control system, the
number one inventory product on the market.
Velos Research,
an innovative, fully integrated product to support clinical research
and clinical trials.
"This alliance creates exciting
possibilities for our existing and future customers," according to
John McIlwain, president of Velos. "We are combining best-of-class
solutions from the two leading technologies in this market, and our
sales and service organizations will be working together to provide
a powerful range of data management solutions to all customers. The
two companies have highly compatible technologies, so most
components of the combined offering will be available for immediate
purchase."
According to Allyn McAuley, president of Seattle
Systems, the alliance will enable member hospitals to improve care
and derive increased revenues through tapping the value of their
composite patient databases. "There is tremendous value in the
clinical data that exists right now in hundreds of cardiovascular
centers in North America. Properly gathered, analyzed and accessed,
the data can be used to improve patient care, facilitate research on
new drugs and devices, and generate needed income for hard-pressed
care providers. The alliance will help hospitals put the best set of
data management tools in place, then provide optional services that
allow users to set up web-based access to their clinical data from
remote locations, generate comparisons with national patterns in
device and drug usage, benchmark clinical and cost outcomes, and
participate in important and profitable clinical research. These new
products will be web-based for maximum efficiency and minimum
investment in IT infrastructure," said McAuley.
In addition
to the initiative in cardiovascular medicine, Velos and Seattle
Systems will combine their efforts in offering department-wide
management of patient populations by medical specialty and disease
state. Together, the two companies serve more than 1,200 medical
centers and an estimated 1,000,000 patients per year with
specialized systems in cardiovascular services, renal care,
oncology, diabetes care, and transplantation. Velos software and
distribution partners include Oracle, Microsoft, and Althin Medical,
while Seattle Systems has product development and distribution
relationships with Guidant, Siemens Medical Systems, and
Hewlett-Packard Medical Products.
"Both companies were
founded with a similar mission," according to McIlwain. "We both
believe that data management in healthcare must be targeted and
approached from the perspective shared by physician and patient.
We’ve succeeded in engaging clinicians and the other front line
workers in healthcare to use information technology. This difficult
achievement unlocks a wealth of information our customers can use
not only for high quality, cost-effective patient care but also in
areas like regulatory compliance, clinical research, and interaction
with third parties such as suppliers, other providers, and payers.
Further, the two companies are in a unique position to support
virtual, Internet-based communities of patients, physicians,
providers and manufacturers with common, highly-focused needs and
interests," McIlwain concluded.
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